8 Tips and ABAP Skills for Specialized SAP Functional Consults

As you enter the SAP arena as a SD Functional Consultant, you have to master your topic and area of work. You should possess sound knowledge of SD business processes and SPRO part of the SD module as well as its subsequent impact on the end users. It’s a myth to have a hypothesis about the work culture of SAP; in order to excel in this field and make sure your foothold is strong, you ought to have great command over the SAP SD module and you should know all about SAP programming language too, which is SAP ABAP.

However, when you are handling client-based needs or trying to solve their issues, there may be times when you could get stuck as a result of lack of ABAP knowledge and skill set. Over a period of time and practice, experts have realized that the flavor of SAP ABAP is very important to be a proficient SAP functional consultant.

Noted below are some useful tips that can help SAP ABAP consultants excel in their field:

1. Understand SAP Tables: This is one of the key skills every SAP functional consultant must possess. As it is known to everyone, SAP system can store all data in a tabular form. Thus, it is very important for consultants, while carrying out data transaction, to check where or in which table the data is going. Having sound knowledge of the tables can help consultants prepare for Functional Specifications that is provided to technical consultants. Additionally, it can also help in tracking errors and retrieving data.


2. LSMW/BDC: When there’s a scope of mass data upload to the SAP system, having sound knowledge of data upload techniques become useful tools for SAP functional consultants. While handling with BDC though it is not necessary to write BDC code, but having knowledge of recording and SHDB is very important.


3. Preparation for Functional Specification: Whenever clients provide some requirement that cannot be fulfilled by standard SAP configuration, we opt for Z development. A SAP ABAP consultant can carry out this kind of roles efficiently. At that very time, functional consultants should interact with their customers to understand their requirements. Such requirements generally get transmitted to SAP ABAP consultants through functional specification. To prepare for the same, you only need to provide a table name and data fields, development logic, if conditions are to be used, loops needed etc. Although it seems to be a simple task, preparations for functional specifications require skills.


4. EDI and Interface: When one Sap system interacts with a similar SAP system or even a non SAP system, EDI is used for data transmission. EDI, or Electronic Data Interchange, is a method of computer-to-computer electronic exchange of machine processed data and business documents in standard format. Interface technology knowledge like ALE and I-Doc becomes important when you are dealing with clients-vendors-customers through EDI.


5. Query: Query is one handy tool used for creating small reports having fewer numbers of fields from one table or joining multiple tables. If you’ve knowledge of this tool, you can use it for creating small reports to satisfy your client’s needs without an ABAP consultant for assistance.


6. Debugging: When you don’t get the desired output from any transaction, it is critical to determine the root cause of a given issue. Debugging is a skill that can create magic. It can help you find a missing link too. However, it may be difficult to use without a consultant.


7. SmartForms: Print output and Smartform coexist in every SAP platform. In support operation, you can find several issues with print output. Smartform has three unique driving components – Print Program, Layout Set, and Function Module, each of which is highly efficient. Having sound knowledge of these can help you deliver faster solution.


8. SAP Notes: A correction in code, SAP Notes is composed of instructions for removing errors from the SAP system. It can be searched and implemented based on Application Component, Note Number, and Implementation Status.